Is it possible to find a truly remote US job from Buenos Aires?

[Fooze]

Hi all,

I'm a US citizen, living in BA for a long time. I've done a lot of freelance work, so I never really had an actual employer for the majority of the time I've been here. I'm now looking to get into a position in the tech industry somewhere and finding it virtually impossible to get anyone to talk to me because I'm not physically in the US.

I can't even count how many applications I've sent through LinkedIn, Indeed, and other sites. Whenever I get back a rejection that goes beyond the standard canned response, they mention that they don't want to work with "international candidates."

Do any of you work for US companies from BA? Or have in the past? Any tips or advice for finding jobs that are remote anywhere and not just remote US?

 

[coinist]

Yes, it is possible. I do. But your CV must be very strong in order to stand out among many candidates. I can only guess that you should improve your network on LinkedIn and if you did not already you should update your profiles/CV. You should also consider UK and Europe. I also received some remote job offers from Asian companies but I had to turn them down back then.

 

[Vagrant Violet]

One factor that wound up working in my favor was getting a subscription for a US phone number associated with my Argentine smartphone. I’ve seen monthly and annual plans for very little, but they can be well worth the investment.

My only advice is NOT to get the mobile number through Skype. I experienced significant tech issues from Day 1. Apparently I was not the only one with this issue, but I had to jump through hoops to get a refund.

Hope this helps!

 

[cuando_volverá]

Right now is a very bad time to "get into a position in the tech industry" in the US. The market is flooded with local candidates who were recently laid off. Remote employees of many large IT companies are being asked to return to the office 1-2 days per week. Companies are preferring to hire in locations where they already have real estate. Everyone I know who was laid off is desperate and call backs are few.

As coinist mentioned, it is possible. But it will require a very solid CV/profile, good marketing on your part, and luck. You may be able to entice some prospective employers by being cheaper than candidates in high-salary markets.

 

[Jteee]

I’d agree with trying to open up your search to European companies. With the better benefits alone it’s so worthwhile and most newer tech companies are remote first as they aren’t tied to expensive years long office leases. Speaking for myself when I started looking for companies that would let me work remotely, most American companies had a lot of red flags and/or couldn’t handle my long notice period, and I successfully found a European company happy for me to work from anywhere though the time difference can be tough from March through October as I tend to stick to European working hours

Also, I recommend targeting companies on the smaller side - max 250 headcount. Reduces the risk of RTO massively. Even better if you find a small company with virtually no office presence

 

[cuando_volverá]

Just curious Jteee, do you have the ability to work legally in the EU? This sounds like an ideal situation.

 

[Jteee]

Just curious Jteee, do you have the ability to work legally in the EU? This sounds like an ideal situation.

Not currently, and sadly my EU citizenship was lost with Brexit but in theory it‘s possible for me to if I asked to change my country of work since the company I works for has a similar presence in the EU.

In any case, between Argentina, the UK and the rest of Europe, it’s easy to avoid hitting the 90 day visa limits

 

[Fooze]

One factor that wound up working in my favor was getting a subscription for a US phone number associated with my Argentine smartphone. I’ve seen monthly and annual plans for very little, but they can be well worth the investment.

My only advice is NOT to get the mobile number through Skype. I experienced significant tech issues from Day 1. Apparently I was not the only one with this issue, but I had to jump through hoops to get a refund.

Hope this helps!

Would you mind sharing where you got the number from?

I tried maybe two or three years ago to get a US number that forwarded to our landline but it turned out to be a nightmare. We ended up getting calls in the middle of the night from people in the US saying they had just received a call from our number or had been spammed with SMS messages. We had them change the number once or twice and the same thing kept happening. After that, they wanted us to pay them extra to change the number again. Cancelled everything and told them to GFY.

 

[Fooze]

Thank you all for the replies. I think I have been overlooking European/Asian companies. I'll have to try some more specific searches in those regions and see if I can do any better.

The only thing is that I'm not really sure how that would work. Do they tend to employ and pay in the US or am I going to be looking at situations where I'd need to get a work visa?

 

[steveinbsas]

Thank you all for the replies. I think I have been overlooking European/Asian companies. I'll have to try some more specific searches in those regions and see if I can do any better.

The only thing is that I'm not really sure how that would work. Do they tend to employ and pay in the US or am I going to be looking at situations where I'd need to get a work visa?

If I understand correctly, you can only get a "work visa" (temporary residency granted by migraciones) if you work in Argentina for a company who actually has a "presence" in Argentina and is authorized by migraciones to hire foreigners to work in Argentina.